Summer Manifesto 2015 – Part 1

September 16, 2015September 16, 2015 Diana SanchezLeave a comment

Hey guys! Summer is ALMOST OVER!!! I can’t believe it! It’s going to be Fall! This year is just going by way too fast for me and because of that, I’m glad I joined in on the #LittleSummerJoy class. This summer I’ve been working on my Summer Manifesto, pretty much setting (small) goals for the season and documenting it. I decided to do a small Project Life album for my manifesto, which I’m still working on. So today I’m sharing the first half of my album (hey, summer’s not over yet!)

I decided to use an 8×6 album and keep it real simple. I wanted to focus on taking better pictures and do better editing.

I love my cover page, it pretty much sums up what an ideal summer is for me, wine, a book, and my O Magazine. I made the “Summer Manifesto 2015” card on Adobe Photoshop, which I used A LOT for this album compared to my monthly PL layouts.

It was a little hard to come up with my summer goals because I never set goals for myself other than my daily goal: “be energized today and do something awesome!” which I fail to do everyday… I set very small and simple goals, but if you’re like me, you hear the word “goal” and go into panic. So just doing this was a big goal in itself.

I typed out my 12 goals on vellum paper and made the whole layout with a picture I took with my phone of a funnel cake. Layouts like this are my favorite and I would’ve done every page like this but, come on, I had to change it up!

Goal #1 was to try different snow cone flavors… SO HARD!!!! I know I’m not the only person who gets cherry all the time and when she’s feeling crazy might get the margarita flavored one, right?

I took a picture of the menu and stamped next to the different flavors I tried (I should’ve written them down because I forgot all the flavors, oops!)

Goal #2 was to take more instax pictures. My Fujifilm Instax Mini 8 had been sitting pretty on a shelf and it was about time I put it to use. I used Photoshop to make the “Pictures of You” card, you know I love to throw in a Cure lyric wherever I can.

Goal #3 was to finish “A House in the Sky” and goal #4 was to start a new book. I did great on these two goals because I was really hoping to finish “A House in the Sky”, because seriously, it should not take a year to read one whole book (another goal I failed). Well I finally finished it this summer and read not one, but two Harry Potter books and now I’m on year 3! 300 points for Gryffindor!

I took a picture of the books and added the dates I started them and finished them with Photoshop. I also took a picture of my “library” and stamped on a Studio Calico parcel tag using a Kellie Stamps alpha set.

I had a lot of fun with this two layouts. I normally don’t add any words on my pictures with Photoshop, I prefer to stamp, but I’ve been seeing a lot of “digital” stamping and wanted to try it for myself. I added sentiments to two pictures I took during the summer, one from Fourth of July, and the other from our Dallas vacation.

That is 4 goals down, 8 more to document! I can tell you I did not meet all of my goals and I know I won’t by next week but I did do other things this summer to make up for it!

I hope you guys enjoyed and will join me on the next one!

Project Life

Project Life: August ’15

September 7, 2015September 7, 2015 Diana SanchezLeave a comment

Hello again! I am actually done with my August Project Life layout the first week of the month! I learned that it is SO easy to do your layout if you have a lot of pictures and luckily I took plenty this month because of our trip to Dallas. I was done with my layout in one day which is a new record for me, it usually takes me longer because of my indecisiveness. I’m very happy with the shots I got and I even pushed myself out of my comfort zone and took a couple of selfies (gasp!).

During our trip we stayed at the Gaylord Texan Resort and they happened to have the inside of the hotel decorated with a “The Wizard of Oz” theme. I took a picture of the ruby red boots as we were about to check out, you can see that pic below. It ended up being a great pic to use as my “monthly cover pic”.

My dad is a huge baseball fan and my husband and I were able to take him and my mom to a Texas Rangers game. We had such a great time and it was awesome to take pictures of him checking out the field to be able to share with my sisters and for him to keep as a reminder.

I used a couple of Studio Calico alpha stamps (Laina and Alex & Ben). I also used my typewrite a lot for this layout along with a flair button and parcel tag from Pink Paradise.

I used label stamps and dies from Studio Calico and Kelly Purkey and a couple of sentiments from Kellie Stamps. For ink I used Ranger Archival Ink in jet black, Brilliance in moonlight white, and Mama Elephant Creative Color in winter. All the patterned paper I used is from Studio Calico.

I was able to get good shots of the concert with my Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge, that is after I turned on the HDR. I realized this AFTER the first band played… meaning I got no good pics of Deftones, only of Incubus. The good thing though is I have good pics from Deftones the first time I saw them, and I got good shots of Brandon Boyd shirtless, so all is ok.

We have another trip coming up this month, this time we’ll be going to Austin for my sister-in-law’s wedding. AJ’s birthday is also this month so we have some fun stuff planned for that so hopefully I’ll have plenty of pictures for the next PL layout.

See you guys next time!

Project Life

Project Life: July ’15

August 15, 2015August 15, 2015 Diana SanchezLeave a comment

Hi everyone! I’m back with my Project Life layout for July. I really tried taking more photos this past month. I always had a camera on me (or two) and I made sure to take pictures of what caught my eye. My family and I also bought a selfie stick and put it to good use. We didn’t care that people were probably looking at us funny because we couldn’t stop yelling and laughing because we had no idea what we were doing.

I used Studio Calico, Kellie Stamps, Kelly Purkey, and Simon Says Stamp stamps for my layout. For the journaling cards, I used Studio Calico and Amy Tangerine paper and a card from Big City Quiet Designs.

I made the firework journal card with Photoshop, because come on, you know that song pops into your head when you see fireworks (Right? Or am I the only one?).
Some of the pictures I took during July were for another Project Life album I’m working on and I didn’t want to use the pictures twice, so I ended up having more empty spaces on this layout than I thought I would. To help cover more space, I took a 4×3 picture of AJ and made it into a 8×6. I really like how the layout turned out because of it.This week I will be heading to Dallas for a small family trip and I am charging my cameras and selfie stick as I type! I’m hoping I will have tons of pictures for my August layout, and then September should be filled with pictures of Austin!

Thanks for stopping by!

Project Life

Project Life: June ’15

July 5, 2015July 5, 2015 Diana SanchezLeave a comment

Hi there! So, I’m just going to go ahead and start by saying Project Life kicked my ass. I thought everything was going to come together for me easily, and some did, but I kept changing things and adding stuff here and there. I finally had to just realize this is going to be a learning process for me. I’m still trying to figure out my layout and journaling style, and on top of that, I’m trying to learn how to take better pictures and how to edit. I will say that I recently downloaded Adobe Lightroom and I just love it! I was scared I was going to be intimidated by it and not use it but when I found out you can download it for a free 30-day trial, I thought why not just try? I watched a couple of videos and played around with presets and I can’t imagine not using it ever! I also tried out printing my own photos and let’s just say my HP printer made it back into the inner circle with my Samsung Galaxy, iPod, and Sony camera. Speaking of my Galaxy, I’m also trying to perfect the cell phone selfie, so far it’s a big fat fail, or is it my face? But here I am, finally done with my June layout.

I found inspiration from A LOT of other “modern day memory keepers” but I still wanted to stay true to myself. And in true form, I was attracted to a lot of black and white. My layout ended up having a black/white/wood grain theme with green and yellow accents. I did not plan that ahead, I knew I wanted to incorporate Mama Elephant’s Lemon Grass ink in there somewhere, and that led to the accent colors.

Most of my pictures are from around the house. AJ and i went downtown so I could take pictures of random things to use as practice in Lightroom. Plus you can see one picture that was taken at work with my Samsung. So this layout is pretty much a normal “day in the life”.

I used a mixture of Studio Calico, Mama Elephant, Kellie Stamps, and Kelly Purkey for Hero Arts. I also used a Royal typewriter that was given to me by my friend Angela.

All in all, I’m happy with my layout and I’m glad I decided to take Project Life on. I hope you guys enjoyed!

My Favorites

May ’15 Top 5

May 31, 2015October 31, 2015 Diana SanchezLeave a comment

Hey guys! It’s the end of May, I feel like I just posted my Top 5 for April! Time is going by way too fast. I am now the parent of a sixth grader (whaaaaat?!).

I wanted to show you guys what I’ve been practicing. I’ve been working on collecting embroidery threads and other accessories. This is my first try at embroidery. I stamped the Love You Tons stamp set from Lawn Fawn with Mama Elephant’s Blush Pigment Ink Pad. I’m really going to try to practice some more and try different techniques.

And now, on to the top 5!

1. Hero Arts Stylish Letter Upper Case Woodblock Set

By now you know I love a good alphabet stamp set and I just happened to get this awesome set at such a good deal. I found it at Hobby Lobby for about $15 and then used my 40% off coupon. This is going to be perfect for future Project Life layouts. Plus, who doesn’t love old fashion wooden stamps?

2. Kellie Stamps
So number 2 is Kellie Stamps, period. Not just one stamp set, all of Kellie Stamps. I LOOOOVE all her sets and I can’t pick just one. I went on her online store and bought whatever she had in stock. These sets are fun and different and you can use them for cards, scrapbook or Project Life layouts. My favorite? If I must pick one I’d go with “Does BAE = Bacon and Eggs? Cause I love BAE”.

3. Peerless Water ColorsSo I wanted to get in with the water coloring fad but I didn’t want to spend too much money (because I can’t even color with markers) and I read about Peerless Water Colors. The colors are so vibrant and I love how they come in sheets plus they are super affordable. I cut each sheet to a 1″ long by 2.5″ wide rectangle and glued them to a Strathmore watercolor book. I’m definitely looking forward to using these during the next The Daily Marker’s 30 Day Coloring Challenge starting tomorrow!

4. We R Memory Keepers Fuse Tool

So the fuse tool was all the rage this month and I can see why after playing with it. It is so easy to use and it’s just so cool! I made this little sequin pocket in no time!

5. Fujifilm Instax Mini 8 CameraI was so excited to get this camera! It’s been so long since I had an instant camera. It comes in many different colors and I chose yellow because of Lucky (our pet duck) and had I waited a couple of weeks, I would’ve ended up with a white one instead. I’ve been stingy with the roll of film because only 10 come in a roll, but I’m ready to start taking some pictures for some scrapbook layouts. Also, I bought this at Michael’s Craft Store and was able to use my 40% off coupon!!!

I hope you guys enjoyed this month’s Top 5! I have so much fun picking my favorite supplies each month and I can’t believe it’s already been five Top 5s!

Thanks for stopping by!

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